Prayer LXIV
O Lord! Who art the Sun and Shield, giving light and life and defence and every good, we thank Thee for all the blessedness that comes to those who dwell in Thy house, and to those who journey towards it. We thank Thee for the joy of the search after Thee, for the joy of the possession of Thee. We thank Thee that there are desires which are only less blessed than their satisfying. And we pray Thee that Thou wouldst help us by faith and trust in Thyself to have in ourselves both the blessing of them that dwell in Thy house, and of them ’ in whose heart are the ways ’ towards it.
We beseech Thee to be near each of us this morning in our worship here, and to lift away from hearts and minds any and every thing that may stand between us and God. May no wandering thoughts rob us of the joy of fellowship with thee. May no doubts darken our sky, may no indifference or negligence keep us from the light of Thy face. May we be able to leave behind anything and everything that would rob us of the true fellowship with God. May we remember weaknesses and difficulties and trials, or joys or sorrows, or treasures or conflicts, and everything that belongs to this present, only in so far as memory may make us cleave the closer to Thyself, and apply to our special wants more closely Thine all-sufficiency.
We thank Thee, O Lord, that in all our weakness we can confidently turn to Thee, and we bless Thee that none have ever sought Thee and found Thee not, though sometimes our finding is very different from what we in our search expected. And yet, O Lord, we bless Thee for all the manifold ways in which Thou dost reveal Thyself to us, and we praise Thee that we can believe that Thou dost make Thyself known even when we think Thou art hiding Thyself. And we thank Thee that we can cast ourselves upon Thee, and leave to Thee to determine in what shape Thy strength shall come. O Lord! we only know we need Thee; we do not know how Thou canst best give us Thyself. So we pray for submission as well as for trust; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst give us that patient wisdom and clear insight which shall rightly interpret all which else might be baffling mystery, and shall untie all the knots in Thy providence, in so far as these need to be lessened and solved to our present knowledge.
We pray Thee to lift all our hearts now to Thyself. We thank Thee for all the associations of this place, for all the influences of our present occupation, for the memories of the past, for the great truths which this day preaches to us all, of a Christ that died, yea! rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, and who is with us, though He is in the heavens, and ready to help us that we too may rise from the death of sin and live unto God. May it be so with us all. May we this day find that it is no vain thing to wait upon the Lord. We beseech Thee to hear us, and grant Thy presence in our worship, for Christ our Saviour’s sake.